You mustn’t be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling. Christopher Nolan
The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams. Oprah Winfrey
Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us. Wilma Rudolph
It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams. Gabriel Garcia Marquez

Why dream BIGGER? What does Independence Day/July 4th have to do with it? Tomorrow, we will celebrate Independence Day which means that we will revisit the commemoration of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4 1776; this day/date not only signifies the birth of the United States of America and the liberation of her original thirteen colonies from British rule but, it is proof of the bigger dream held close to the hearts of many Americans who wanted their freedom from British dominance. If the men who had gathered to sign and ratify this declaration had chosen to wait until they received full permission from the King, they’d still be a colony. By the same token, many of us sit around waiting for others to give us permission to reach our full potential when, in fact, we must seek it and embrace it. While achieving our biggest dreams might seem impossible in the beginning, every effort we make, every belief and dream we hold close to our heart, and every person we help along the way, add to our success quotient because to dream bigger means to also help others dream bigger. We dream bigger to push our boundaries and encourage ourselves/others to remember that our potential to succeed is infinite. Until we step outside of our safety nets and let go our need to control everything that happens to and around us, we will never realize our fullest potential. Why dream bigger? Why not?

Why does Independence Day give us an opportunity to dream BIGGER and aim for huge goals? Before I moved to the USA, my impression of it was of a nation where everything seemed larger than life. Americans have big personalities, big cars, big houses and a huge belief in the greatness of this nation. While some might disagree with this observation, it is what many on the outside see and that becomes an attraction to folks who imagine pushing the boundaries of their lives. In so many nations around the world, there are strict social hierarchies that make it almost impossible to move between socioeconomic classes. If you are born into a certain group or class, your path is X. While there are some who are able to push beyond those boundaries, not enough can do so and that makes the USA a fascinating country to move to. Of course, moving here offers no guarantees but, there are many who have been able to transcend the limitations they experienced in their native lands. The point is that we can adopt the same big dreams in our lives, and in our native lands and support leaders who want the best for all their people. If our leaders dreams are not altruistic and only self serving, nothing will change. But we can do our bit by dreaming bigger too and by embracing the process it takes to reach our goals. As we join our loved ones to celebrate July 4th, take a moment to educate those around you on the history of Independence Day, read the Declaration of Independence and teach your loved ones about the long journey that got YOU here. After all, this is a nation of immigrants. It is not enough to eat, drink and be merry… take time to teach yourself and others about how this impacts your own dreams, celebrate your independence, cherish the liberties you enjoy, and stay motivated to ensure that others can have access to the same rights we wish for our loved ones and ourselves.

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” Harriet Tubman

Motivation Mondays: Dream BIGGER – Independence Day

Motivation Mondays: Dream BIGGER – Independence Day

Help others achieve their dreams and you will achieve yours. Les Brown
Let your dreams outgrow the shoes of your expectations. Ryunosuke Satoro
Take a leap of faith and begin this wondrous new year by believing. Believe in yourself. And believe that there is a loving Source – a Sower of Dreams – just waiting to be asked to help you make your dreams come true. Sarah Ban Breathnach

How do we learn to dream BIGGER? For starters, we must believe we are worthy of greatness. Now this does not mean that our greatness must fit a specific pattern or mirror the greatness we see in X, Y and Z. Nope. It means that we are willing to buckle down and do the inner work to tap into our own strengths and gifts, and then do the heavy lifting that is required to accomplish our dreams. Often, we see people copying others who have achieved a modicum of success without stopping to think about their own potential and skills and, perhaps, their own ability to come up with an original, innovative idea that would set them apart from the crowd. When I think of some of the global companies with recognizable brand names that we all know today, Coca Cola, Google/Alphabet Inc, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Samsung, Pepsi, McDonald’s and a host of others, what set them apart from their competitors were their original business concepts and their perseverance to grow their brands. They focused on the dream the founders had and worked to meet that dream. They were not only interested in creating a product that would serve their local community and give them a quick buck, they were determined to make their mark on a global scale and to do so even as naysayers told them it was not possible. They had a singular focus to offer something of value to the marketplace and then expand their business beyond their immediate market and expand further. They could have chosen to limit their expansion by making excuses and not even trying and that is what holds many of us back. If, like the forefathers of the American Constitution and Declaration of Independence, we take a chance on life and refocus our attention on goals that will benefit not just us and our family but our community and beyond, we will slowly and surely get to that day when it will come together in a way that we could never have imagined.

What separates the successful from the rest of us? Again and again, whenever I’ve had the opportunity to ask very successful people about the genesis of their achievements, they have all said that they knew deep inside that they had something of value to share with the world and that they were intent on making a difference in the lives of people. Even though their success brought them great wealth, they didn’t do it for the money. Read my line again, they did NOT pursue their dream for the monetary benefits. The money came when their passion met their market and people welcomed what they were offering. So, focus on your game and do the work because you love it, you would do it for free, and you would eat and sleep on it, even if there was no financial remuneration involved. Stay true to that passion… and do the work. It is golden.

The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for May/June 2017 are:

“Never give up on what you really want to do. The person with big dreams is more powerful than the one with all the facts.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr

Motivation Mondays: Dream BIGGER – Independence Day

Great dreams of great dreamers are always transcended. A. P. J. Abdul Kalam
Never let life impede on your ability to manifest your dreams. Dig deeper into your dreams and deeper into yourself and believe that anything is possible, and make it happen. Corin Nemec
To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe. Anatole France
Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning. Gloria Steinem

What more can we do to dream bigger and set our plans free? Focus your attention on your own work and stop getting caught up in minutiae and other people’s business. I manage a couple of very successful Facebook groups and our singular goal is to help our members achieve more for their social media accounts. We show up every day and do the work so everyone can increase their traffic. We think of new ways to make the process easier and to help our members expand and grow. Now, we have many who appreciate our effort and support us by either volunteering to help or by following our rules. Then, we have that small percentage that expends more energy complaining about other people or about us and instead of focusing on their own game, they are busy spying and whining about others. Think about it. When your energy is invested in being a rat in a rat race, where will you go from there? Dream bigger and stop fighting over nonsense. Do you think that all that complaining doesn’t take you away from your goals and your ability to reach out and help others without looking at what is in it for you? THINK AGAIN!

The bigger our dreams, the less time we spend over petty hatreds and working to undermine others. When our dreams align with our effort, we must remember to pause and give thanks and imagine how we can use our successes to make the lives of others better. Why is this day a motivator for dreaming bigger? It is a reminder to us all that we live in a society that values its Independence; we live in a great nation that values the inherent ability we all have to move our lives forward even after we have failed again and again. We live in a nation where we can trust that most of our choices won’t be challenged, and our family won’t come to harm because of our ideas and decisions. We can express our opinions on a wide range of topics, speak out against any sort of civil rights infringements, fight against bigotry, choose the type of jobs we want, and move around freely. Yes, there are problems that must be addressed but, one major thing this nation offers us is an opportunity to choose our path. We must remember to honor those who protect our rights and do our bit to ensure our children, grandchildren and others will continue to enjoy and celebrate Independence Day. So stop playing small because so many are depending on our collective light to shine and move mountains.

Motivation Mondays is open to anyone who wishes to share a motivational quote, photo, personal challenge or a post that encourages others to start the week on an upbeat note.Basic Instructions: Each week, I will have a motivation word to help us create a response. (See listed words for the months above/below)Email address: You may email or share your post as a comment and I will add it to the round-up of related posts. email it to: contact(@)mirthandmotivation(.)comCategory tag: – Share your post using Motivation MondaysTwitter hashtag: – Use this on Twitter #MotvnMDedicated Page: There is a dedicated page for Motivation Mondays. It has the same instructions and will include other helpful tools and a link to the round-upFacebook Page:MotivationOnMondays Join our page and add your post and/or any motivational piece you think will be helpful to others.Facebook Community: We have a Facebook community forum to compliment the page. It serves as another way to share uplifting posts and thoughts. Please join in and add your voice.

Badge: – I created a fun badge using PicMonkey’s free photo editing tools. You can create your own, use WordPress’ integrated tool on your blog or you are welcome to use mine. (see dedicated page)Tag: – Motivation MondaysHashtag: – #MotvnMRelated Posts

I’ve always been a big dreamer! Although some of my dreams haven’t come to fruition (as they have sometimes been quite elaborate), I’ve always had fun in just dreaming up dreams. Happy Independence Day!

Thank you for this wonderful and meaningful message. Since I was younger, I`ve always had big dreams but then sometimes I looked at my resources and think, “how am I going to make it?” Still, this motivated me to try harder because I believe that one has never failed in life unless he/she quits trying.

Fun fact: July 04 used to also be the independence day of the Philippines. It was changed to June 12, the day Philippine Declaration of Independence from Spain was issued. July 04 in the Philippines is now Philippine Republic Day or Filipino-American Friendship Day.

Love this post!!! I always had the dream to become a musical theater star! I worked so hard and I even made it to Broadway! With age, my dreams changed but it´s important to always challenge yourself no? 🙂

Really enjoyed reading this! I 100% agree that we need to stop getting caught up in other peoples work and just keep our eyes on our own papers in order to set our plans free! It’s definitely easier said than done but so important to remember!

I think most people especially those who didn’t grow up with wealth on their hands strive for success for the monetary benefits and not really to pursue their real dreams. It’s a sad reality for many “dreamers” nowadays.

I remember my dreams as a child were expansive and fantastic and then I made the mistake of sharing them and got dismissed by some… Dream bigger and hold them close to your heart. Not all dreams are encouraged so hold them close! <3

Happy Fourth of July to you and all my American friends and family! A country should always look back on its birth, to see how far it has grown by now. Young people should recognize the heroic efforts of the Founding Fathers to get it started, so that they will know where to take the country in the future.

Such a wonderful reminder. I was thinking we tell it to our kids all of the time .. that they need to dream big, the world is their oyster, and they can be anything they want. But, do we tell it to ourselves? That it’s never too late to re-invent our lives or follow or dream. Happy 4th of July! x

I never really thought of the 4th of July as giving you permission to dream bigger. I guess I’ve always lived here in the US and never really seen it as bigger than other places, even if it is. I hate giving myself permission to dream bigger, I feel like I”m being selfish to do so.

Ah yes, the American Dream. I suppose I can relate to that. From an Asian background, my parents were real oddballs for encouraging me to dream big and telling me I could’ve achieved anything I wanted. To this very day, I still appreciate the fact that they never set a path for me and allowed me to forage on my own!

What a great way too look at Independence Day! We often take our freedom for granted, but we really need to step back and look at it from a distance. We need to dream bigger simply because we have the right to!

I am bit confused interpreting the statement made by Gabriel Garcia Marquez on growing old as it relates to pursuing the dreams. He said that when people discontinue reaching their dreams it is true that they grow old. But when they stop pursuing their dreamsfor they are already old. Do I interpret it right?

Dreams are important but what is even more important is turning them into an actual goal. Make a plan and start working on it. Nothing ever happened from wishing and dreaming alone. I started turning my dream into reality this year by fully focusing on my food blog. =D

This really speaks to me as I work on my memoir. I believe I have a story to share, that “deep inside I have something of value to show the world.” And that’s what keeps me going even when I feel like giving up.

Very well said! People think about the American Dream all the time but not how much work was needed to actually achieve it. We have to take time to think back and reflect on what made this country what it is now.

I love your post. I guess there are changes I must make in order for me to reach my goal. I have followed my passion, I quit my corporate job to do what I love to do – to write. But I have been thinking of the monetary gains when I have not even completed a single manuscript. Thank you for enlightening me.

I like that you’ve tied dreaming bigger to Independence Day. You can’t dream much bigger than forming your own country. Plus it’s halfway through the year – if you dreamed too small at New Years, you can up your goals!

“Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don’t bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself.” — William Faulkner

That is a quote I read daily to motivate myself to achieve my goals and dreams. Indepence was the biggest dream and if the founding fathers could achieve that then we are not limited to touch the stars.

This is such a nice post! It can be easy to forget how blessed we are, especially to live in a free and independent country. I also like your list of July holidays at the bottom of the post. I had no idea 7/23 was Parents Day!

Love this post. It resonates with me well especially because my husband and I are planning on buying our own house. It is such a big leap for me, and it is scary to think of loans and all. This though just motivates me to work harder to achieve it.

After reading through this I realize that Independence Day is really a good day to reboot on your goals for the year. Sit back and access everything, celebrate and then re-align your course if it’s off a little.

I love the quote that if your dreams don’t scare you it isn’t big enough… I feel like a lot of people stay in the safe zone and give up on their dreams but having dreams that seem unattainable gives us the ability to work hard each day trying to catch those dreams!

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams. — I love this quote! There are times when I feel like I’m running out of time in pursuing my goals.